SACRAMENTO—The Sonora High Wildcats stared at a fourth-and-an-inch for a Sac-Joaquin Section championship Friday afternoon. The decision on the sideline was easy—play to our strength.
“Coach,” Eli Ingalls, the Wildcats’ 6-foot-4 quarterback, began to coach Kirk Clifton. “We just ran a play that gained two yards. They couldn’t stop us. If we run it again, I know we can gain an inch.”
Clifton liked what he heard. Ingalls faked to battering ram fullback Tommy Sutton, stepped to his left behind linemen Chance Davis and Tanner Goldson, and darted into the end zone standing up. With 9 seconds to spare, Sonora clinched its third blue banner—this one in Division VI—with a dramatic 23-20 victory over previously unbeaten Bradshaw Christian under sunny skies at Hughes Stadium.
Only a year ago, Bradshaw Christian scored in the final seconds to eliminate the Wildcats 22-21 in the semifinals. Sonora remembered. The Wildcats also would not let themselves forget their heartbreaking loss to Escalon in the 2022 D-V title game.
“We were talking on the sideline and said, ‘This is our turn,’” two-way star Brody Speer said.
A large Sonora crowd in the eastern stands roared approval, while the horn-blowing BC supporters went silent. Sonora (11-2) got even at the right time against 18 BC returning starters.
The Wildcats did it their way—brute force with a touch of deception—to march 67 yards in 10 plays for Sonora’s first section title since 2015.
“I think our schedule and our league made us for that exact moment,” said Clifton, referring to Sonora’s win over section finalist Oakdale and loss to section finalist Hughson. Those matchups, including those showdowns in their first foray in the Trans Valley League, no doubt hardened the Cats.
“We preach toughness," Clifton said. “We coach them hard. I think we bring it out of them.”
Top-seeded Bradshaw Christian (12-1) took its only lead of the game, 20-16, on Nathan Zeppieri’s second touchdown, a bullish 10-yard run with 4:43 left. Sonora’s 16-7 second-half lead, fueled by Tanner Navarro’s 33-yard pick-6, vanished.
The Wildcats’ response produced glory, but it needed a jump-start. On 4th-and-5 from their own 38 yard line, Ingalls tossed a screen pass to his right to Cash Byington, who bolted 19 yards to the BC 43.
“We’ve been practicing that play for 16 weeks,” Clifton said. “Never ran it in a game until today.”
Speer dashed 21 plays on the next snap, leading to the final sequence.
Ingalls picked up two yards on second down to the 2 and, with the quarterback pleading his case, Sonora elected to run the same play on fourth. The quarterback was given two plays, the second a toss play to Speer, but didn’t have to check to the second.
The section-title TD carried a not-so-subtle echo to the end of Sonora’s 52-51 loss at Hughson. Though the Wildcats ran almost at will that night, they chose to throw on the goal line in overtime. Hughson batted it down.
This time with the through-the-roof stakes riding on it, the Wildcats did what they do best.
“That is grit, hard work at practice,” said Byington, who dressed as a freshman and recalled the disappointment of the finals loss to Escalon two years ago. “We did our jobs and stayed true to themselves.”
Nothing came easily for Sonora, despite a season-opening win over Oakdale. The TVL was predictably tough and, one week after the Hughson loss, the Wildcats collapsed in a shocking loss to Ripon.
“I learned a lot about myself after that game,” Ingalls said. “It was a lot of mental things. That wasn’t us. We weren’t happy with ourselves. We started over again, one practice at a time.”
Though Sonora was outgained 327-209 and cut the margin razor-close at the end, it deserved to win. It suffered zero turnovers, compared to three by Bradshaw (counting the game-ending fumble recovery post-laterals by BC).
It’s also hard to weigh how much the second-half ejection of Bradshaw Christian coach Drew Rickert mattered. The timing, however, was provocative.
Rickert was bounced after he argued a second chop-block penalty against the Pride. Assistant coach Virgil Yuhre hustled from the press box to the sideline to replace Rickert. On the next snap, quarterback Ethan Rickert (one of three of the coach’s sons on the team), tossed the costly interception-and-return by Navarro that gave Sonora its 16-7 lead. Navarro, a senior, also recovered a fumble to blunt another threat early in the fourth quarter.
Ingalls called Bradshaw Christian the most physical team it’s faced since Oakdale last August.
“They (BC) were big and physical but we out-physicaled them,” Navarro said.
Sutton (13 carries, 101 yards), the Wildcats’ first option on almost every play, was contained after his 49-yard rip to open the game. Nevertheless, his short-yardage production counted. His 49-yarder set up Byington’s 4-yard run for the game’s first points.
Sutton was offset, however, by Bradshaw Christian running back Mateo Mojica (20 carries, 103 yards, TD). Mojica, along with Eckert’s arm, produced lethal scoring drives 95, 80 and 66 yards.
Sonora minimized the damage, and that’s why it won.
Sac-Joaquin Section D-VI Final
Sonora 23, Bradshaw Christian 20
Sonora 7-3-6-7--23
Bradshaw Christian 0-7-7-6—20
1st Quarter
S—Cash Byington 4 run (Emanuel Garibay kick)
2nd Quarter
BC—Mateo Mojica 8 run (Nathan Zeppieri kick)
S—FG Garibay 21
3rd Quarter
S—Tanner Navarro 33 interception return (kick failed)
BC—Zeppieri 9 run (Zeppieri kick)
4th Quarter
BC—Zeppieri 10 run (pass failed)
S—Eli Ingalls 1 run (Garibay kick)
Records: Sonora 11-2, Bradshaw Christian 12-1
